


A Visible Soul

by limitlessrose (shinealightrose)



Series: 2020 Holiday Gift Fics [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Cat adoption, Established Relationship, IN SPACE, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:41:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28223328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinealightrose/pseuds/limitlessrose
Summary: Yuta and Donghyuck are space engineer boyfriends about to make a big life change, by adopting a cat. In space.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Nakamoto Yuta
Series: 2020 Holiday Gift Fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2066013
Comments: 6
Kudos: 41





	A Visible Soul

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cottoncandyboys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cottoncandyboys/gifts).



> Merry Christmas ayumi! meow!
> 
> “I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.” – Jean Cocteau

Donghyuck is practically jumping up and down as they trace their route through the maze-like, airtight corridors. Yuta’s almost never seen him like this. Maybe the last time was when they approached a new planet in the Proxima Centauri sector and Donghyuck got picked for one of the away teams to explore the planet’s atmosphere. 

“Will you breathe?” Yuta laughs. “It’s not that exciting, okay.”

Donghyuck gasps, no less jittery. 

“It  _ is _ that exciting, okay! We’re getting a cat. A whole  _ cat _ !”

“As opposed to what, just three-quarters of a cat?”

Donghyuck hisses in anguish, apparently unamused. 

Yuta has to give this to him though. They’ve been roommates for three years, something closer than mere roommates for two. It’s time for a change and Donghyuck has always longed for a pet. He’s not like Yuta who was born and has lived his entire life in and out of various spacecraft. Donghyuck always longed for something more, something akin to what their homeworld would have had so many centuries ago: domestic animals. 

Most of the earth’s animal kingdom was decimated in the wars of the past. The cats survived, just barely. Ever since Donghyuck started talking about this, Yuta has done a lot of research on this particular program that has expanded aboard their ship. It’s a domestic pet revival agency that has strived for years to repopulate the starbases with a familiar balance of old earth traditions. Dogs are still a little scarce these days, but Yuta knows at least one friend somewhere else who got approval to adopt a cat. Now, it’s their turn. 

Yuta and Donghyuck show their IDs at the next checkpoint. They work in engineering, which is just as important as the more important military branches,  _ they insist _ . The checkpoint though marks the last security stop before reaching the civilian decks. Past this they enter a throng of shops and shoppers and all the way past that, the more private decks where  _ finally _ , Donghyuck pulls out their domestic animal license painstakingly filed and completed. They only received it back this morning. 

A young civilian man with pink hair is sitting at the desk when they arrive. His name badge reads  _ Hendery _ which is unusual enough. 

“Hello, sirs,” he sits up, all quirky. “How can I help you today?”

Yuta moves over, letting Donghyuck do the talking. Unusually, Donghyuck is  _ still _ nervous. As if he thinks their license will be rejected or all the cats will be gone already.

“We-we… uh, hullo. We uhm…”

Hendery must take pity on him. “Here to adopt a pet?” he says with a smile. 

“Yess…. Yes, that’s right.” The hand holding onto the printed form begins to shake, paper quivering in the air. 

“Here, how about I take that for you.”

Yuta wants to laugh about this whole ordeal. Instead, he steps closer to Donghyuck and puts his arm around his back. 

“It’s okay, baby,” he whispers into Donghyuck’s ear. “It’s gonna be fine.” 

Hendery takes a moment to read over the form and then looks up. “Permit looks great! Ready to meet your new pet?!”

He leads them through a backdoor into a long hallway lit with old school fluorescent lights. Yuta suddenly has this horrifying idea that they’re being lead to a slaughter. The hallway is curiously cleaned over, smells overly like chemical cleaners. He can feel Donghyuck’s nerves itching even more. 

The farther they go, however, the warmer the lights. And Yuta doesn’t know what to expect, but Hendery pauses before another door, opens the lock with a fingerprint, and opens the door onto positively  _ the  _ coziest scene Yuta has ever seen. 

The only cage in the whole giant room is the mesh fence keeping small animals from rushing out the door. 

“Just step over it, cool?” says Hendery. 

Yuta does so, but Donghyuck doesn’t follow. He’s stuck in the entryway,  _ crying _ . 

“Donghyuck… what?” asks Yuta gently. 

Hendery just nods at him. “Don’t worry. He’ll get over it soon. It’s a common reaction. I mean… who wouldn’t cry at a sight like this.  _ I did _ , when I first joined the agency.”

And sure, Yuta has already seen what he’s talking about, but he forces himself to stop and look.  _ Really _ look. This isn’t just some picture book in their history lessons. Not a biology lesson, not even a seminar on domestic husbandry techniques as are taught to a part of the space force for the production of some kinds of animal products, milk, cheese, and the like. 

No, this whole room…. is filled to the brim… with kittens. Mewling, squalling, happy, playful  _ kittens _ . There has to be dozens of them, some larger than others. A few adult cats mingle throughout, though most of those seem to be sleeping in comfy-looking cubbyholes built into the wall. The entire floor is strewn with toys and sleeping surfaces, towers with feathers, bells, balls and the like. Just next to Hendery’s feet is a pile of kittens who have clearly overplayed themselves and are passed out in various stages of delighted exhaustion. 

“Hyuck? Hyuck, come one…”

Yuta holds Donghyuck’s hand, still quivering and just a bit sweaty as Donghyuck steps over the little fence barrier. 

“Watch your feet,” says Hendery, as a little black and white kitten goes scurrying between his legs. 

Slowly, Donghyuck’s eyes start to clear up and his smile begins to bloom. Yuta can’t help try to see this through his eyes. All his life he’s waited for a scene like this. To be able to look in any direction and see nothing but tiny balls of fluff, black and white and brown and calico, tortoiseshells, and bright fuzzy balls of orange. A sleek grey animal cozies up to Yuta’s leg and peers up at him like, Hi? Naah, and wanders off. 

Hendery doesn’t try to rush them. Yuta gives Donghyuck a little push along the back of his waist, as if to say,  _ go on _ . Anyone of these kittens could be theirs for the taking. But Yuta knows Donghyuck is going to be the one who makes the decision. 

Yuta just watched him with love as Donghyuck slowly pulls back his expression into something involving normalness. Then he sinks down to the floor to begin playing with the small creatures closest to him. Almost immediately, a white short-haired kitten with blue eyes treads over to examine Donghyuck’s outstretched hand. 

“Hey, there, kitty kitty…” 

No sooner has that one said hello though, three over kittens are coming over to investigate. Pretty soon Donghyuck has a mass of kittens climbing over his legs and lap. Yuta navigates the dangerously clogged floor to crouch beside him. A little orange fluff ball shyly sniffs his hand. 

“Yuta… there’s so many,” Donghyuck whines. “How do I even begin to pick one.”

“Hmm. I don’t know. Go with your gut?”

Donghyuck makes a face. “My gut says  _ all of them _ , but we can only get one… it’s not fair.”

Yuta pats his shoulder. “I think you’ll make the right decision.”

Back in their shared room, they’ve already gotten all the right products. Cat toys and a cat tower and some smelly food granules, a horrendous box Donghyuck explained to him is where the cat will pee and poop and for some reason,  _ they _ have to be in charge of cleaning it. Sounds like a bad deal, but Yuta supposes he’ll live. If it means Donghyuck gets to be this happy about getting a pet, he’d do anything to keep that up. 

“I’m just going to close my eyes and pick one,” says Donghyuck. 

He closes his eyes. Three cats suddenly mob the hand he stretches out. Yuta laughs.

“No fair!” cries Donghyuck, giving up. “You guys are acting like a mob. I can’t take everyone!” 

Hendery pitches in. “You can get up, look around some more.”

“Hmph,” Donghyuck pouts, but he does so anyway. 

He and Yuta stroll about the room, discussing what kind of cat might be the best. 

“That one’s really playful. I bet he’d keep us awake at night.” or “But this little guy is just so cuuuute.”

It only really ends when Donghyuck’s gaze meets a timid little black and grey striped cat who’s just waking up in the corner. 

“Yuta… Yuta, that’s the one.”

“Huh? How do you know?”

“I just know!”

“But you haven’t even pet him? Or her?”

“Does it matter?” Donghyuck whines, dragging Yuta closer to the kitten. 

The cat seems a little bit older than the other kittens, though still not fully grown, even Yuta can tell that much. Crouched down before it, Yuta does get the realization that maybe, this is the one. 

“Girl or boy?” asks Donghyuck, like he’s making a transaction. “Oop, it’s a girl. Hello, there, darling.”

She hasn’t even fully awoken. But she looks up at Donghyuck with large, inquisitive eyes. Then, as if on a whim, she flips over on her back, revealing soft tummy fur. Slowly, slowly, Donghyuck reaches over to pet her. And then Yuta hears a sound like none other… a pur. It starts soft, a little rumble that makes Yuta feel warm. Damnit, he thought he wasn’t going to be taken in like this. Not like Donghyuck obviously would. 

“Come on,” says Donghyuck softly. “You can pet her too. She’s going to be  _ ours _ , after all.”

“Ours?” says Yuta. 

“Yeah… what do you say…”

It’s the first time Donghyuck looks at him like Donghyuck is almost nervous about what Yuta thinks. Which is ridiculous, because Yuta has behind him the whole way. Donghyuck wants a cat, and so Donghyuck is going to get a cat. 

Somehow, perhaps, he didn’t realize it wasn’t just about Donghyuck. It’s about them, together. Adopting a cat. A cat that will totally revolutionize the way they live. 

“I think…” says Yuta, tearing his gaze off Donghyuck’s wretchedly nervous face, “she’s kind of cute.”

Donghyuck beams. “You like her? Really? OH noooo!” He suddenly cries in anguish. 

“What??” cries Yuta.

“Now we have to come up with a name!!!!”

  
  


Needless to say, the rest of the day is going to be a nightmare, but at least they spend the entirety of it shut up in their rooms with the sweetest, little, unnamed kitten imaginable. 

  
  
  



End file.
